I do not object to people looking at their watches
when I am speaking. But I strongly object when
they start shaking them to make certain they
are still going.
Lord Birkett, (Observer 1960)
I have answered three questions and that is enough.
Be off or I’ll kick you downstairs.
Lewis Carroll. Alice’s adventures in Wonderland (1865)
The brain is a wonderful thing. It starts working the day you are born and keeps on going without pause right up until you …. Stand in front of a group of people to speak!
George Jessel
It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
Mark Twain
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child
The best way to sound like you know what you’re talking
about is to know what you’re talking about.
Author unknown
Why doesn’t the fellow who says “I’m no speechmaker”
let it go at that instead of giving a demonstration?
Kin Hubbard
Today’s public figures can no longer
write their own speeches or books,
and there is some evidence that
they can’t read them either.
Gore Vidal
I just wish my mouth had a backspace key.
Author unknown
There are two types of speakers: those that are nervous and those that are liars.
Mark Twain
Acting still fills me with terror. Maggie Smith
Smith says she is more terrified now than when she started her career
The Guardian, November 7, 2015